Family Activities Related to Health 1753-1799

Things to Do

Read the time line for 1753-1799.

Time lines can describe many different sorts of events. Construct a time line about your family or your life. How many significant landmarks can you find by consulting family members? Think about births, deaths school graduations, trips, birthdays, illnesses, awards and so on.

Research and write a report on a disease.

Using the Internet, magazines and the library (encyclopedias, biographies), research and investigate a disease that interests you. Include how long the disease has been known; what happens to people when they get the disease; if and when a treatment was discovered; if so, by whom; and how the disease affects people today.

Research and write a biography of figures in Philadelphia health.

Using the Internet and information available at resources throughout the city, investigate the life of someone who made an important contribution to health between 1753 and 1799. Some possibilities are: John Bartram, Benjamin Rush, Absolom Jones, Richard Allen and Philip Syng Physick.

Conduct a health survey and make a graph.

Write 10 or 12 questions to ask your friends and family about health. For example: have you ever been hospitalized? Have you seen a doctor in the last year? Have you missed any school due to an illness? Have you ever smoked cigarettes? Do you exercise regularly? When the questions are complete, have each member of your family answer them. Ask your friends to conduct the survey too. Tabulate the answers as percentages and draw a graph.